Detroiters Pondering Boycott over African Town

By Bankole ThompsonSpecial to the NNPA from the Michigan Citizen DETROIT (NNPA) – A university professor is calling for a boycott of Arab, Asian and Hispanic businesses if those groups continue to oppose resolutions for the building of an African Town in Detroit. Lynn Lewis, a civil rights expert at the University of Detroit-Mercy, said opposition to African Town, an idea generated by young entrepreneurs and elaborated on by Claude Anderson, means opposition to Black dollars. “If our money is not good enough for our economic development, then it is not good enough for them,” Lewis said before Detroit City Council members. “If African-Americans were today to stop doing business with all the groups that have spoken against this plan, they will go bankrupt,” Lewis said. “I want to recommend all African-Americans in this city to boycott their businesses if they continue to oppose this plan.” Speaking passionately, Lewis said the recent uproar against the resolutions demonstrated what she called “Negro-phobia,” meaning some groups’ fear that the economic empowerment of Blacks could hinder their businesses. She said all other ethnic groups have benefited from Detroiters who serve as their majority customers. Keith Hines, a Detroit resident, said he supports Lewis’s call for a boycott. “We got to be fair,” he said. “We have all kinds of towns here in the city but none about us. If these groups oppose it, we should boycott their businesses.” Another resident, Jeanetta Ray, said, “If they are against us empowering ourselves, why should we support them? We should support our own Black businesses.” In November 1999, an article in The Detroit News, titled “Chaldean Town: Chaldean Dream Takes Shape in Detroit,” quoted Asaad Yousif Kalasho, head of the Chaldean Town Association, as saying Chaldeans’ goal for such a town was to have, “a Greektown or Mexican Town in the old Chaldean neighborhood, bounded by West McNichols, West State Fair, Woodward and I-75.” Kalasho said there were about 40 businesses along Seven Mile, mostly owned by Chaldeans, and few owned by African-Americans. He estimated that those small businesses generated about $5 million in annual income. Another piece, written by Habeeb Salloum in Aljadid Magazine in 1998, underscored how Detroit has become a business hub for different ethnic groups, including Arabs. In the article, titled, “Detroit: Arab Capital of North America,” Salloum talked about how Arab businesses are flourishing in the city. “Detroit’s Arabs and their businesses are a microcosm of that of the Middle East,” Salloum wrote. “Everything to be found in these lands and more can be found in Detroit.” During initial discussion of African Town, Councilwoman JoAnn Watson, who invited Anderson to the city council, said she fought for funding for other ethnic groups at council table. “I fought and supported funding for La Raza when it slipped in the mayor’s budget,” Watson said, referring to the Hispanic population. Watson said no matter the opposition, it couldn’t denigrate the fact that “Africa is the birthplace of humanity,” and that African Town would be a fitting tribute to the Motherland. “And if the Motherland is assaulted like in the past weeks, it is disgraceful,” Watson said. Like many, she said African Town in an 85-percent African-American city was a fitting tribute to a people whose ancestors labored on plantations for centuries without pay. “We are all in it together to improve Detroit,” said Maria Elena Rodriguez, head of the Mexican town Community Development Corporation. Rodriguez said the language of the resolutions, which calls for $38 million to be set aside for a Black business district, “should be fine tuned.” Jumana Judeh, vice president of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce, who described the resolution as “extremely negative,” would not return three calls placed to her office. To many Detroiters the idea of African Town is reminiscent of the days when there were Black business districts such as Black Bottom, Paradise Valley and Hastings Street, before they were wiped out by the construction of freeways in the city. Rodriguez said for that alone, “There should certainly be something like African Town that pays tribute to African-American history, because we are still reeling from the effects caused in the building of the freeways. African Town will be a positive thing for businesses.”